Laser amplifier power extraction enhancement system and method

ABSTRACT

A high extraction efficiency laser system. The novel laser system includes a laser amplifier and a laser source adapted to provide a laser beam to the amplifier such that polarization states for incident and reflected light within the amplifier are perpendicular one to another. In an illustrative embodiment, the laser beam is input to the amplifier such that the beam reflects back and forth between the side walls of the amplifier with an angle of incidence of about 45 degrees, and the laser beam is linearly polarized in the plane of incidence. This arrangement reduces interference fringes in the amplifier. In an alternative embodiment, the system includes an aberrator adapted to add time-varying aberrations in the laser beam at a rate exceeding an inversed lifetime of an inverted population in the amplifier to increase spatial homogenization of saturation and extraction patterns in the amplifier.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This Application is a Divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/253,994, entitled LASER AMPLIFIER POWER EXTRACTION ENHANCEMENT SYSTEMAND METHOD filed Oct. 19, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,391,558 by AlexanderA. Betin et al., the teachings of which are incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to lasers. More specifically, the presentinvention relates to systems and methods for increasing extractionefficiency in lasers.

2. Description of the Related Art

Power efficiency is a critical issue for many weapon-class solid-statehigh energy laser (HEL) systems, specifically for those integrated intomobile platforms. Power efficiency determines, in the long run, systemapplicability to mobile platform and battlefield conditions where powersources and waste energy management subsystem resources are limited.Diode-pumped solid-state laser systems are preferred for manyapplications due to the characteristic efficiency thereof. Proper choiceof active medium and doping concentration, of pumping diodes and pumpinggeometry, of heat sink monitoring, etc., have facilitated highefficiencies for solid-state lasers. These are methods for minimizingloss at the stage of transforming the external source power into powerstored as optical excitation of electrons in the solid state matrix.

Another source of efficiency loss comes from the next step: theextraction of laser medium excitation power into the power of theamplified output signal. Efficiency of the laser amplifier stored powerextraction is often deteriorated by a non-uniformity of the intensity ofthe amplified laser beam. In practice, a laser beam intensity pattern isusually non-uniform or fine structured inside the active elements of HELsystems because of the coexistence of two factors: optical aberrationsand the spatial coherence of laser radiation. Fine structures ofdifferent types, such as coherent beam caustics, speckles, andinterference fringes, reduce the bulk filling factor or the overlap ofthe laser beam with the amplifying medium due to multiple local spots orareas where the laser light does not saturate the medium and does notextract the stored energy. Power stored at those spots/areas does notcontribute to signal amplification but is wasted by fluorescence andamplified spontaneous emission (ASE). The total results of such negativeeffects can exceed 35% in reduction of the maximal possible extractionefficiency.

Prior attempts to increase the extraction efficiency of opticalamplifiers were mostly targeted at eliminating the underfill effectscaused by non-ideal geometrical overlaps between the laser beam and thelaser active medium. These effects correspond to a large spatial scalecomparable to the size of the active element. Solutions include: 1)matching the input beam footprint to the input entrance of the amplifierto exclude empty areas near the borders, 2) double-passing ormulti-passing the same active volume and through neighboring paths coverthe volume with high intensity signal, 3) integrated reflectors foramplifier slabs to arrange complementary paths at zigzagging.

Another effect, known as the hole burning effect, that reduces theamplifier extraction efficiency is due to the interference of counterpropagating coherent laser beams and the subsequent creation of anintensity spatial modulation pattern of about a half-wavelength scale. Atypical solution to minimize this effect is to operate the amplifier atmultiple laser wavelengths or in short pulses without time-overlapinside the amplifier medium. No known attempts have been made to solvethe problem of the underfill at the level of intensity occurring in finestructured laser beams due to coherent interference and diffractionpropagation effects.

Hence, a need exists in the art for a system or method for reducingunderfill effects due to fine structured laser beams to increaseextraction efficiency in laser amplifiers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The need in the art is addressed by the high extraction efficiency lasersystem of the present invention. The novel laser system includes a laseramplifier and a laser source adapted to provide a laser beam to theamplifier such that polarization states for incident and reflected lightwithin the amplifier are perpendicular one to another. In anillustrative embodiment, the laser beam is input to the amplifier suchthat the beam reflects back and forth between the side walls of theamplifier with an angle of incidence of about 45 degrees, and the laserbeam is linearly polarized in the plane of incidence. This arrangementreduces interference fringes in the amplifier. In an alternativeembodiment, the system includes an aberrator adapted to add time-varyingaberrations in the laser beam at a rate exceeding an inversed lifetimeof an inverted population in the amplifier to increase spatialhomogenization of saturation and extraction patterns in the amplifier.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of a basic phase conjugate MOPAlaser system.

FIG. 2 is an illustration showing an interference fringe pattern in alaser slab.

FIG. 3 a is an illustration showing a computer simulated caustics typeintensity pattern.

FIG. 3 b is an illustration showing a computer simulated speckle typeintensity pattern.

FIG. 4 is a simplified block diagram of an illustrative embodiment of alaser system designed in accordance with the teachings of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 a is a graph of the calculated average extraction efficiency forpolarized and depolarized speckled beams as a function of a saturationparameter <I>/I_(sat).

FIG. 5 b is a graph of the calculated average extraction efficiencyη=I·g(I) for a top-hat beam pattern covered by interference fringes,I=I(z)=I₀{1+C·cos(2πz/Λ)}, of differing fringe contrasts C.

FIG. 6 is a simplified block diagram of an illustrative laser systemusing an alternate method for reducing TIR fringes in accordance withthe teachings of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Illustrative embodiments and exemplary applications will now bedescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings to disclose theadvantageous teachings of the present invention.

While the present invention is described herein with reference toillustrative embodiments for particular applications, it should beunderstood that the invention is not limited thereto. Those havingordinary skill in the art and access to the teachings provided hereinwill recognize additional modifications, applications, and embodimentswithin the scope thereof and additional fields in which the presentinvention would be of significant utility.

One of the attractive approaches for developing a high brightnessweapon-class solid-state laser is to use a double-pass masteroscillator/power amplifier (MOPA) configuration with a nonlinear phaseconjugate mirror (PCM) between passes. A key point of this approach isto get high quality output from high power but low optical qualityamplifiers using reciprocity of diffraction for the phase conjugatebeam.

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of a basic phase conjugate MOPAlaser system 10. The system 10 includes a low power master oscillator12, which delivers a high quality single-mode reference beam 14 throughan optical outcoupler (OC) 16 to a high power amplifier 18 (oramplifiers). The beam is then amplified to moderate power. Thermallyinduced lens and other optical distortions and stress-inducedbirefringence result usually in severe aberrations anddepolarization—beam quality is lost while power is increased due toamplification. But the beam enters a phase conjugate mirror 20, whichreflects the beam back to the amplifier 18 with wavefront inversion,which is called phase conjugation. The phase conjugate beam passes backthrough the same beamline to extract the power stored in the amplifier18. Simultaneously, the original high quality wavefront is restoredbecause diffraction is reciprocal for the conjugate beam. A highquality, high power laser beam 22 is then output by the outcoupler 16.

Literature about methods of phase conjugation and about PC MOPA iswidely available. See, for example, the following references, theteachings of which are incorporated herein by reference:

-   1. D. M. Pepper, “Nonlinear Optical Phase Conjugation,” Optical    Engineering, Vol. 21, No. 2, p. 156, 1982.-   2. B. Ya. Zel'dovich, N. F. Pilipetsky, V. V. Shkunov, “Principles    of Phase Conjugation”, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1985.-   3. D. A. Rockwell, “A Review of Phase-Conjugate Solid-State Lasers,”    IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, vol. 24, No. 6, June 1988, pp.    1124-1140.

As discussed above, the problem of power efficiency is critical for highpower lasers. Several methods are known for minimizing loss indiode-pumped solid-state laser systems at the stage of transforming theexternal source power into power stored as optical excitation ofelectrons in the solid state matrix. Another source of efficiency losscomes from the next step: the extraction of laser medium excitationpower into the power of the amplified output signal.

Laser medium excitation is released in two forms—radiation and sensibleheat. Radiation occurs in a few different ways: 1) as fluorescence(spontaneous emission of excited electrons), 2) as amplified spontaneousemission (ASE), which is part of fluorescence that is amplified in thegain medium, 3) as parasitic oscillation due to parasitic reflectionsthat accidentally form looped paths for lasing if the gain over the pathexceeds the loss at the reflections, and, eventually with a positiveeffect, 4) as added power of the output signal. Proportions to sharepower between these channels are controlled by a variety of parameters.Few methods are known for increasing efficiency of extraction into thesignal of interest by damping competitive processes in favor of thesignal amplification.

Saturation of the amplifier by the amplified laser beam diminishes thepower stolen by the fluorescence by eliminating the contribution ofspontaneous processes compared to stimulated processes. ASE is reducedby minimizing the amount of spontaneous emission that gets high gain.This can be done by narrowing the ASE solid angle (usually via coveringthe sides of the amplifier slab with a material having a slightly lowerrefractive index) for the light guided inside the active element.Parasitic oscillations can be suppressed by over-saturating the mediumto drop the gain down below the parasitic oscillation threshold, andalso by careful eliminating potential reflections that can form closedoptical paths inside the active medium. These methods belong today to acommon wisdom domain; their descriptions can be found in tutorial bookson high power and solid state lasers, such as the following references,the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference:

-   4. W. Koechner, M. Bass, “Solid-State Lasers: A Graduate Text    (Advanced Texts in Physics)”. Springer-Verlag, New York, 2003.-   5. W. Koechner, “Solid-State Laser Engineering”. Springer-Verlag,    New York, 1999.

A geometrical filling factor is another characteristic parameter thataffects amplifier efficiency. A laser beam can extract power bystimulated emission process, which is effective if the beam isphysically present in the gain medium and has sufficient intensity; therest of the medium, which is not illuminated by the laser signal at allor poorly illuminated, meaning the laser signal intensity is too low foreffective stored power extraction, contributes to fluorescence, ASE andparasitic oscillations, but not to the laser signal. In general, thegeometrical filling factor is the portion of the volume occupied by thelaser beam relative to the overall volume of excited laser mediumavailable for laser energy extraction; thus, this is the fractionaloverlap. The lateral fill factor, as part of the geometrical fillfactor, is defined as a portion of the amplifying medium cross sectionthat is covered by the footprint of the propagating laser beam. There isalso a longitudinal fill factor, similar to the lateral one, whichaccounts for overlap between the laser beam and the amplifying mediumalong the longitudinal direction of the laser amplifying medium.

A standard method for fill factor improvement includes matching theinput beam footprint to the input face and cross section of the lasermedium. Good matching is typically possible only for top-hat beamfootprints. For real smooth-edge beams overfilling the input aperture isoften recommended—the footprint is taken larger than the size of theinput face of the amplifier. This method gives a limited effect,however, even for straight-pass active elements since overfilling meansalso that the input signal power beyond the input face is clipped andlost. A change of amplified beam size inside the amplifier medium,caused by thermal lensing for instance, may also spoil the volume(lateral and/or longitudinal) overlap and subsequently the extraction.

Good lateral fill is not sufficient to optimize amplifier extractionalong the longitudinal direction of beam propagation. For a small signalinput, the unsaturated part of the medium near the amplifier entrancecontributes to the laser beam amplification, but the signal may not bepowerful enough to provide sufficient extraction of stored power. A morehomogeneous saturation over the length can be achieved by double-passingor multi-passing the amplifier through the same part of thecross-section, or through parallel channels, usually at orthogonalpolarizations. Mutually orthogonal polarizations for forward andbackward passes eliminate also gain gratings that appear due to the“spatial hole burning” effect in a narrow-band laser system. Using theamplifier in a regenerative mode by placing it between semitransparentmirrors is another known method to get more homogeneous saturation. See,for examples, the following references, the teachings of which areincorporated herein by reference:

-   6. U.S. Pat. No. 4,019,151. K. Brueckner, S. Jorna, N. K. Moncur.    Multiple pass laser amplifier system, Apr. 19, 1977.-   7. R. Paschotta, J. Nilsson, L. Reekie, A. C. Trooper, D. C. Hanna.    Single-frequency ytterbium-doped fiber laser stabilized by spatial    hole burning. Optics Letters. 22 (1), 40, 1997-   8. W. Lowdermilk, et al., The Multipass Amplifier: Theory And    Numerical Analysis, J. Appl. Phys. 51(5), 1980

There is a geometrical fill factor problem specific for one path zigzagpropagation through the slab amplifier designed for a shallow bouncingangle, when there are 100% unfilled shadow areas in the bulk betweenreflections even if the lateral fill is perfect at the entrance of theslab. In a patent application entitled “ZIGZAG SLAB LASER AMPLIFIER WITHINTEGRAL REFLECTIVE SURFACE AND METHOD” by R. Reeder, S. Matthews, andA. Betin, Ser. No. 10/425,578, filed Apr. 29, 2003, the teachings ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference, an integral reflector wasproposed to split the beam cross-section wise in two beams and combiningthem into one output beam again after one path zigzagging through theslab with complementary fill of the shadowed areas.

The technical solutions listed above as the known art do not teach howto overcome a bulk underfill associated with a fine structure ofintensity pattern. Signal beam intensity inside the laser amplifiermedium can be fine structured or modulated in space due to its naturaldiffraction and due to fringes appearing on the amplified beam caused byinterference with deflected/reflected and scattered wave components.Then, power is extracted well at locations of high local signalintensity only, while there is inefficient extraction at intensityminima. There are several particular mechanisms that lead to theformation of a fine structured laser beam intensity pattern.

FIG. 2 is an illustration showing an interference fringe pattern in alaser slab. Interference fringes are formed at zigzag propagationthrough slab amplifiers by laser beams reflecting off the TIR (totalinternal reflection) surface of the laser slab. The fringes occur nearthe TIR surface because the incident and reflected beams are mutuallycoherent automatically, even in the case of large radiation bandwidth orshort coherence length. The fringe contrast is very high (close to 100%)near the reflecting surface because TIR results in equal intensities.The fringes keep high contrast over the entire volume between the wallsof the slab if the longitudinal correlation length of light (Rayleighrange of one speckle) due to diffraction exceeds the slab thickness. Atthe valleys between the fringe maxima no signal light is present.

Other types of fine structured intensity patterns usually appear in thebulk of the active medium. Quasi-random fine structure (or speckledstructure) of intensity of an amplified laser beam may appear in anyamplifier, but it is especially common in amplifiers within a PC MOPAarchitecture (since PC MOPA amplifiers are allowed to be low qualityamplifiers). The cause for quasi-random fine structure is eitherdistortions of the incident to amplifier laser beam (wavefront,clipping, etc.) or optical non-uniformities (can be thermally induced)in the laser amplifying medium. Then, diffraction and propagationdevelops fine scale speckle-type intensity spatial fluctuations withinthe volume of the active medium. These intensity fluctuations areoriginated from the interference effect also, but the interferenceoccurs now between different rays originally present within the laserbeam or rays successively tilted by optical inhomogeneities of themedium. Inhomogeneities are usually random giving quasi-random patterns.Static or slow in time refractive index variations mix the light, but donot deteriorate coherence between rays that pass different paths beforecrossing (unless the path difference for different rays exceedscoherence length of the generated or amplified light), thus facilitatingstrong interference effects resulting in deep intensity modulation.

Quasi-random fine structure appears as sharp caustics or as randomspeckles depending on the strength of optical inhomogeneities (in thebeam or laser medium) and the length of the amplifier or multipleamplifiers in a beamline. Inhomogeneities of the refractive index ordeformed surfaces of a slab tilt the rays differently across the crosssection, forcing them to cross a neighboring ray and to form a finecaustic pattern. Caustics are shaped right after the wavefrontdistorter, within a Fresnel length, where just the neighboring tiltedrays can cross. FIG. 3 a is an illustration showing a computer simulatedcaustics type intensity pattern. The simulated pattern shown is formednear the phase aberrator, after a propagation distance of 2 cm. Causticsare characterized by sharp and contrast variations of intensity over thecross section. Light concentrates at relatively narrow lines or spotsleaving most of the cross section unattended by laser radiation.

At larger propagation distances, where many different tilted rays cancross with each other, caustics lose contrast and a speckle pattern isformed. FIG. 3 b is an illustration showing a computer simulated speckletype intensity pattern. The simulated pattern shown is from the samedistorted beam of FIG. 3 a, but after a longer propagation distance (32cm) behind the aberrator. Speckles also leave plenty of “empty” spotsover the bulk, approximately half of the amplifier volume. But theintensity fluctuations are milder for speckles then caustics. Causticsfill the amplifier's volume poorer even comparing to speckles, becausethe light is focused as compact stripes that occupy just a minor portionof the cross-section area.

Power is effectively extracted only where the light is present: atbright ridges of TIR-induced fringe, at “hot” stripes of the caustic or“hot” spots of the speckle pattern. Unsaturated fringe valleys, “cool”areas and spots of the pattern are not illuminated by the signal beamleaving no room for stimulated processes. These areas generatefluorescence and amplify ASE and parasitic light instead of working forthe signal amplification. This is why the extraction of stored power bymeans of fine-structure beams is poor compared to a flat intensitypattern. Exactly the same way as it takes place for the large-scale,geometrical under-fill, a proportion between filled and unfilled volumesis what really counts for efficiency of extraction.

The teachings of the present invention increase laser extractionefficiency by reducing the negative effects of incomplete bulk fill byfine-structured beams. Some of the methods described herein are based onplacing external aberrating and/or scrambling elements into thebeamline. This deteriorates the output beam both for a single passamplifier or inside a laser cavity. So, the methods with beamdeterioration are applicable, first of all, for standard laser sourcesif the beam quality is not a key priority. However, since the scrambleris optically reciprocal, and since phase conjugation compensatesreciprocal aberrations, the quality of the output beam for PC MOPAarchitectures is fixed and referenced to the good quality beam from themaster oscillator, and, hence, it does not suffer.

FIG. 4 is a simplified block diagram of an illustrative embodiment of alaser system 30 designed in accordance with the teachings of the presentinvention. The system 30 shown is a PC MOPA configuration; however, theinvention is not limited thereto. The present teachings may be appliedto other laser architectures without departing from the scope thereof.

The system 30 includes a master oscillator 32, which delivers a highquality laser beam 34 through an optical outcoupler 16 to a high poweramplifier 18 (or a multiple amplifier chain). The beam is amplified tomoderate power and then passed to a phase conjugate mirror 20, whichreflects the beam back to the amplifier 18. The phase conjugate beampasses back through the same beamline to extract the power stored in theamplifier 18, and a high quality, high power laser beam 36 is thenoutput by the outcoupler 16.

In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, the lasersystem 30 also includes a wavefront aberrator 42 disposed between themaster oscillator 32 and the amplifier 18 (preferably between theoutcoupler 16 and the amplifier 18) to eliminate the formation ofcaustic intensity patterns within the amplifier 18.

The worst fine structure intensity pattern for extraction is the causticpattern. Caustics form the least bulk fill among the different finestructures of diffracting light patterns, see FIG. 3 a. The causticsappear at a limited distance, in a so-called Fresnel zone right behindthe phase aberrator in the amplifier. It is known that a length of theFresnel zone becomes shorter as a quadratic function if the angulardivergence of the aberrated beam increases. After propagating theFresnel distance, a contrast of spatial fluctuations of the intensitypattern drops down, and the caustic pattern is transformed into aspeckle pattern, like the one shown in FIG. 3 b. The contrast for thecaustics pattern formed by a distorted active element is controlled bythe angular divergence of the incident beam, before it is distorted bythe medium. The smaller the input divergence, the sharper the patternformed, and, hence, the lower the diffraction efficiency within theFresnel zone. If the incident beam is fine-structured having an angulardivergence larger than the divergence induced by the medium itself,caustics are not formed at all.

The wavefront aberrator 42 is designed to increase power extractionefficiency by means of eliminating caustics. The aberrator 42 should bestrong enough to create a speckle structure with a characteristicangular divergence that exceeds the divergence that is induced byoptical inhomogeneities in the active medium. In addition, the aberrator42 and/or its image plane should be positioned at a distance from theamplifier input window 48. This distance should exceed the Fresnellength for light distorted by the aberrator 42. If these two conditionsare met, the pre-aberrated beam enters the amplifier 18 and propagatesthrough it having developed a speckle pattern and no high contrastcaustics. Optical inhomogeneities inside the amplifier 18 are, in suchcase, weak to focus light into caustics further in the optical train.Multiple passes of propagation through the amplifier medium (bymultiplexing the angle of incidence) can improve the extraction bybetter averaging the total laser intensity distribution.

Pre-aberrating the input beam eliminates caustics patterns and replacesit with the lower contrast speckle pattern. However, intensityfluctuations for the speckle pattern are still high and power is stillunextracted from volumes located between hot speckle spots. Speckleshave Gaussian statistics that specify the contrast of intensityfluctuations as unity:

(I−<I>)²

^(1/2)=<I>. Extraction efficiency can be evaluated, for any crosssection of the amplifier, by the spatial average of the extraction rateη=I·g(I). This rate is a product of local intensity I(x,y) and localgain factor g(I), which also depends on the intensity and coordinates(x,y) due to medium saturation.

Calculations show that up to 20% of extraction can still be lost due tofluctuations of the intensity speckle pattern. This loss is due to theabundance of space between the “hot” speckle spots, see FIG. 3 b, whichis not filled by the amplified light. The unfilled regions for specklepatterns refer to the presence of randomly located points of theso-called wavefront dislocations, where the light intensity becomesexactly zero. Zero points are inherent for speckle patterns, and theconcentration of “cold” zero points equals the concentration of “hot”spots for any speckle pattern with Gaussian statistics.

FIG. 5 a is a graph of the calculated average extraction efficiency forpolarized and depolarized speckled beams as a function of a saturationparameter <I>/I_(sat). Efficiency is normalized at an extractionefficiency η₀=I₀·g(I₀) for the same amplifier illuminated by a uniform,top-hat beam with the intensity I₀=<I> equal to the average intensity<I> of the speckle beam; I_(sat) is a saturation power of the amplifyingmedium. As shown in FIG. 5 a, a depolarized speckled beam generates agreater extraction efficiency than a polarized speckled beam.

In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, the lasersystem 30 also includes a polarization scrambler 44 disposed between themaster oscillator 32 and the amplifier 18 (preferably between theoutcoupler 16 and the amplifier 18) to depolarize the laser beam inputto the amplifier 18. A separate scrambler 44 can be used in addition tothe wavefront aberrator 42 sitting next to each other. Another option isto install an element 40 that implements both wavefront aberrations andpolarization scrambling at the same time in one element.

The scrambler makes the speckle field spatially depolarized, whichactually means that the speckle field is a spatial overlap of twoindependent and uncorrelated speckle patterns present at two orthogonal,vertical and horizontal, polarizations:E(r,z)=E_(v)(r,z)·v+E_(h)(r,z)·h. FIG. 5 a shows the results ofcalculations for the normalized extraction efficiency if the specklepattern is completely depolarized, <E_(v)(r,z)·E*_(h)(r,z)>=0—zerospatial correlation between the two optical fields. Calculations showthat depolarization allows one to take back about half of the lostextraction (compared to polarized input) reducing the maximal loss toabout 10%.

The depolarized speckle pattern is an overlap of two different patterns,I(r,z)=|E_(v)(r,z)|²+|E_(h)(r,z)|², of vertical and horizontalpolarization components that do not interfere with each other. Since thepatterns are mutually uncorrelated, <E_(v)(r,z)·E*_(h)(r,z)>=0, zeropoints for one of them are filled by intensity spots of another pattern.While a probability to find a zero near a speckle spot for polarizedlight is almost 100%, it diminishes for depolarized speckle. In average,the contrast of fluctuations for a depolarized pattern I(r,z) becomestwice smaller,

(I−<I>)²

^(1/2)=<I>/2.

In addition to the speckle fluctuations in the pattern intensity, whichare randomly distributed in space, the regular fringe patterns thatappear due to the interference of the amplified beam with the reflectedfrom the slab wall replica of itself, as illustrated in FIG. 2,deteriorates the extraction efficiency. FIG. 5 b is a graph of thecalculated average extraction efficiency η=I·g(I) for a top-hat beampattern covered by interference fringes, I=I(z)=I_(o){1+C·cos(2πz/Λ)},of differing fringe contrasts C. Extraction is plotted againstnormalized signal intensity I_(o)/I_(sat) demonstrating that up to 17%of extraction can be lost at 100% fringe contrast compared to a flatintensity beam with the same average intensity I₀ but no fringe. Lowerfringe contrasts improve the situation significantly, making extractionloss almost negligible at a fringe contrast ratio, C=0.5.

A fine-structured aberrator 42 helps to eliminate caustics, but not thecontrast fringes at TIR reflections. The fringes are separated by theconstant spacing, Λ≈λ/[2n·sin(γ)] and they are parallel to the slabwall. The first fringe is located, also, at a fixed distance from thewall. Its location is specified by the zigzagging angle, γ; moreexactly, by a phase shift at TIR reflection, which is also definedsharply by the angle γ. The aberrator 42 makes the fringes wave togetherwith randomized speckles deep inside the slab. But it does not affectfringe contrast for polarized light, leaving extraction poor.

The polarization scrambler 44 decreases the contrast of random specklefluctuations by a factor of two. For the same reason, due to thedecorrelation of the random phase pattern for fields E_(v)(r,z) andE_(h)(r,z) at orthogonal polarizations, TIR fringe patterns alsodecorrelate. Decorrelated fringes overlap resulting in lowcontrast—bright fringes for one polarization cover, with about 50%probability, fringe minima for the other.

However, fringes for the patterns at different polarizations—vertical|E_(v)(r,z)|² one and horizontal |E_(h)(r,z)|² one—decorrelate only inthe depth of the slab. In the vicinity of the reflecting surfaces, wherefringes are parallel to the surface, the fringes coincide. The reason isthat at angles of practical interest, γ<0.4 rad, the TIR phase shiftsare almost the same for s- and for p-polarization components resultingin matching locations of the first fringe. The fringes stay parallel tothe wall at some depth Δz from the reflecting wall, fitting one anotherto maintain high contrast. Patterns of incident and reflected specklescoincide automatically right at the TIR surface. But they lose mutualcorrelation at a depth Δz≈Δr_(cor), where Δr_(cor)≈λ[n Δθ_(sp)]⁻¹ is atransverse correlation size of the speckles, which is controlled by thewavelength λ, refractive index “n” and speckle divergence Δθ_(sp) in themedium. Thus, the polarization scrambler 44 compensates, in part, thefringe-induced extraction loss in a bulk of the slab. A part of the slabvolume, where fringe contrast is reduced by depolarization andsubsequently extraction is good, amounts to 1−2(λ/h)/Δθ_(sp); thiscovers almost the entire volume if the divergence Δθ_(sp) exceeds muchthe diffraction limited divergence angle λ/h defined by the slabthickness h, i.e. if 2(λ/nh)/Δθ_(sp)<<1.

In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, the coherencelength L_(coh) of the amplified signal is shortened to eliminateextraction loss due to TIR fringes in the slab amplifiers. The fringesdisappear in the middle portion of the slab if the coherence lengthL_(coh) of the amplified signal is made shorter thanΔL_(max)=h·{1−cos(γ)}/2 sin(γ). The length ΔL_(max) represents themaximal path difference between the rays interfering inside the slab atzigzagging. The path difference diminishes at the walls but reaches itsmaximum exactly at the middle, at z=h/2. Shortening the coherence lengthbelow the limit L_(coh)<ΔL_(max) can be done by standard methods ofbroadening the generation spectrum of the master oscillator 32. It canalso be done by removing narrowband selecting elements from the cavity,and replacing them, if needed, by broadband selectors, and also bytuning the cavity after that. Note, that amplification of short pulsescan accomplish the same improvement in extraction efficiency; in thiscase, the pulse duration should be less than the time required for lightto propagate the distance ΔL_(max).

FIG. 6 is a simplified block diagram of an illustrative laser system 50using an alternate method for reducing TIR fringes in accordance withthe teachings of the present invention. In this embodiment, the sourcelaser beam 34 from the master oscillator 32 is zigzagged through theslab 18 close to a specific angle, γ≈45°, with p-polarized light (i.e.with light linearly polarized in the plane of incidence). If necessary,a polarizer 52 may be used between the MO 32 and the amplifier 18 top-polarize the beam 34. With this geometry, the linear polarizationstates for incident and reflected light are perpendicular one to anotherresulting in diminished fringe contrast.

Returning to FIG. 4, in accordance with the teachings of the presentinvention, the laser system 30 also includes a mechanism 46 for rotatingor otherwise moving the aberrator 42 and/or polarization scrambler 44.The extraction efficiency of the laser system 30 can be increased byvarying in time the pattern of the aberrations inside the amplifiers 18.The rate of the time variations v should exceed the inversed lifetime,ν>1/τ, of the inverted population in the medium; the inversion lifetimeτ is usually given by an upper level lifetime τ=τ₀ for an unsaturatedamplifier. On the other hand, in application to a PC MOPA architectureas shown in FIG. 4, the rate v should be slower than an inversedresponse time, ν<1/τ_(PC), of the PC mirror 20 used in the PC MOPAsystem; the mirror response time is usually defined by a decay time ofdynamic holographic gratings τ_(PC)=τ_(gr).

If the intensity pattern varies faster than the inversion populationlifetime scale, τ, the saturated pattern of the upper level populationturns out to be too sluggish to follow the fluctuations of the intensitypattern in real time. As a result, spatial “holes” of the populationdensity, which are “burned out” by the pattern of the signal intensity,are washed out flattening out the population density. Flat populationdensity means flat gain profile g (r,z)≈g(<I>), and the averageextraction rate approaches the rate that one gets for a uniform, top-hatbeam of the same average intensity <η>=<I·g(I)>≈<I>g(<I>). The PC mirrorperformance does not suffer, it operates properly by adiabaticallyfollowing incident pattern variations and providing sufficientreflectivity and conjugation fidelity since the operation bandwidth1/τ_(gr) for the PC mirror covers the full spectrum of the variations.

In summary, extraction efficiency for fine structured beams is poorbecause of the abundance of optically pumped but unsaturated local spotsin the amplifier. The present teachings reduce unsaturated volume byhomogenizing the spatial pattern of inverted population. First, theintensity pattern of the fine structured beam itself is homogenized bydispersing it with a fine-scale aberrator to eliminate caustics. Second,the fine structured beam is depolarized to reduce the contrast ofspeckles. Third, interference fringes at zigzagging through the slab areeliminated or reduced by shortening the coherence length of theamplified signal and/or by using p-polarization and an incident angle ofγ≈45°. Finally, increased spatial homogenization of saturation andextraction patterns is achieved through time averaging by time-varyingand time-moving the fine scale pattern of the amplified beam within theamplifier active volume. These methods can be used separately, or invarious combinations to increase power extraction efficiency in lasersystems.

Thus, the present invention has been described herein with reference toa particular embodiment for a particular application. Those havingordinary skill in the art and access to the present teachings willrecognize additional modifications, applications and embodiments withinthe scope thereof. For example, the illustrative embodiments have beendescribed with reference to a solid-state PC MOPA configuration. Otherlaser technologies and architectures, however, may be used withoutdeparting from the scope of the present teachings.

It is therefore intended by the appended claims to cover any and allsuch applications, modifications and embodiments within the scope of thepresent invention.

Accordingly,

1. A laser system comprising: a master oscillator that outputs a laserbeam; an amplifier adapted to amplify said laser beam; an aberratorarranged between the amplifier and an outcoupler; and a moving mechanismconfigured to move the aberrator in a manner that produces time-varyingaberrations in said laser beam, said time-varying aberrations in saidlaser beam enabling an increase in a power extraction efficiency in saidamplifier by extracting additional laser power from the amplifier. 2.The invention of claim 1 wherein said aberrations are varied at a rateexceeding an inversed lifetime of an inverted population in saidamplifier.
 3. The invention of claim 2 wherein said system furtherincludes a phrase conjugate mirror adapted to reflect a beam output bysaid amplifier back through said amplifier.
 4. The invention of claim 3wherein said aberrations are varied at a rate slower than an inversedresponse time of said phase conjugate mirror.
 5. The invention of claim2, wherein said aberrator is adapted to receive said laser beam anddeliver a pre-aberrated beam to said amplifier.
 6. The invention ofclaim 5, wherein said moving mechanism is configured to move saidaberrator at said rate.
 7. The invention of claim 6 wherein saidaberrator is adapted to form a pre-aberrated beam having a specklestructure with a characteristic angular divergence that exceeds adivergence that is induced by optical inhomogeneities in said amplifier.8. The invention of claim 7 wherein said system further includes meansfor depolarizing said laser beam to reduce the contrast of speckleintensity patterns in said beam.
 9. A laser system comprising: a masteroscillator for providing a laser beam; an aberrator adapted to receivesaid laser beam and output a pre-aberrated beam; an amplifier adapted toamplify said pre-aberrated beam; and a mechanism for rotating or movingsaid aberrator at a rate exceeding an inversed lifetime of an invertedpopulation in said amplifier to increase extraction efficiency.
 10. Amethod for increasing spatial homogenization of saturation andextraction patterns in a laser amplifier, the method comprising:providing a laser beam; forming time-varying aberrations in said laserbeam at a rate exceeding an inversed lifetime of an inverted populationin said amplifier; and inputting said beam with time-varying aberrationsto said amplifier.